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Is it just me, or is Oregon one of those states quickly climbing up on the “cool meter?” It seems every day more and more style-driven wedding are emerging from this unsung state, and truth be told, I kind of love it. My best guess as to why are the ah-mazing vendors like Jon Duenas and Lucy’s Informal Flowers coming on the scene. They helped pull together this gorgeous outdoor affair, and you can have a look at the whole shebang right over here.

From the Bride… I was never someone who dreamed about my wedding day. So, being a 32 year old bride gave me no advantage of years of planning and scrapbooks. Instead, I started with a few things I knew Ezra and I wanted. We both wanted it to be outside. And we wanted it to be somewhere in the Pacific Northwest so we could show off our part of the country to our family and friends from New York and Texas. I also wanted to go somewhere just far enough away that it would feel like a destination wedding, without forcing locals to pay for flights. We wanted this to be a “weekend” not just something they’d go to for a couple of hours and then meet up with friends later.

The Balch Hotel ended up being the perfect venue for that. It was so fun to be able to have the majority of our friends and family stay in the hotel together that was completely just for us. We got to hang out the night before, have breakfast together, go on a walk the day of… it was like a weekend getaway with a wedding. And while I hadn’t really thought of all the details I wanted, luckily, my twin sister had. She and I brainstormed on a few things. I knew I wanted something romantic, vintage, rustic and with personal, thoughtful touches in the design. I knew I wanted a seated dinner with long tables and romantic lights hanging from the trees and live music. Between my sister, brother-in-law, and the work of all the vendors involved, what came together blew me away.

The day seemed like a blur (as I was warned it would) but my favorite parts that I remember: -Ezra and I danced to “I Only Have Eyes for You” as our first dance, which was the same song his parents danced to at their wedding. So they joined us dancing to the song, which was really special. -We had the most amazing sunset ever on our wedding day…so good, in fact, that all the festivities stopped for people to go across the street and take photos of the sunset over Mt. Hood. -My twin sister and I are extremely competitive, so we had quite a few dancing competitions between she and her husband, and Ezra and me. I have to admit, their extra years of dancing together definitely gave them an advantage…but we have a lifetime of competition ahead!

My advice for other brides: Pulling everything together in 5 months was no easy task. If I had to give any sort of helpful hint to another bride I’d highly recommend using marthastewartweddings.com planning tools. Seriously, let Martha’s OCD and detail-oriented way be your guide. It tells you every week what you should be doing and keeps you on track. The budget tool is very helpful, as well. My other piece of advice is to make getting a really good photographer a priority. The day flies by and you want to have the memories documented well!